Amazing Race: One-Armed Rowing

paragliding

Amy and I love Amazing Race. We have seen all the seasons, but started watching together a few years ago. Steve joined in on watching with us. This recap will be partly what happens in the episode, but mostly what we were saying while watching it. Let’s kick off it off with Season 23 and the premiere episode, “We’re Not In Oklahoma No More,” where teams paraglided and rowed a boat around Chile.

To begin, here are our first impressions of all the teams:

nfl
NFL guys – I sometimes think the former athletes have an advantage in this game, but in the past when they are large (like the former basketball stars) that actually led to problems. These guys are pretty big. They seem like fun.
bingo
Bingo – They seemed nice, but they also seemed a little too excitable.
 exes
Exes- They used to date. She likes to yells and has pink hair. He seems to put up with it until they hate each other. Why do they hang out?
 afghani
Afghans – They really remind me of the Jersey Shore dorks from a few seasons ago, which isn’t a good thing.
 iceblondes
Ice Blondes- Each season must have a pair of blondes with big boobs that I can’t tell apart. One girl talked about she didn’t come on the race to fall in love, but if it happens….then she remembered she has a boyfriend. Haha. oops! Amy said her “eyes almost rolled out of my head” after hearing that gem.
 ER
ER doctors – They seem smart and nice enough.
 indian
Father/daughter – 
He wants her to have an arranged marriage. She is all nope! Reminds me of the Asian father/daughter couple from a few seasons ago.
 hillbillies
Oklahoma hillbillies – Steve commented about they love to have the people that never went anywhere on this show so they can be amazed at everything including planes.
 beards
Bearded hippies – Steve said they must be pot farmers as soon as he saw them. Amy said, “I do not. I do not like you, your beards or your humor.” She’s a big fan. I like them.
 baseball
Baseball wives – We all got stuck on one of them saying they have known each other for over four years! That’s forever, FYI.
 mrplow
Random other couple – I was still stuck on four years when these people were introduced. I just remember him owning a snow plow company so that makes him Mr. Plow.

After introductions, the teams took off from a Wild West soundstage for unknown reasons. They were told there would be an Express Pass for the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop. They would also receive another Express Pass to give to another team before the end of the fifth leg. We remembered this from last time where that one team had the Express Pass and when they were struggling during one leg and could have used the pass to save themselves, they didn’t. Over and over again, they couldn’t figure out a road block, but never used it and were eliminated. It was so bizarre!

The teams had to make one of two flights. I like it when they are all on the same flight, or flights that are close enough in time so they can start off in the next country in the same place. In this case, it was to the benefit of the team that could find LAX the quickest were two hours ahead of the other teams. I don’t mind other teams trying to find places in other countries, but trying to find LAX just seems boring to me and not an exciting way to start the race.

At the airport, there was some bonding going on. The bearded hippies were telling stories that Amy translated to, “I live in a tree.” The Afghan guys started to be too overly friendly with the blondes. Teams were talking about not wanting to go home first and starting alliances, which started Amy and I making fun of all the cliches of reality show contestants. I said, “I came here to be the first one to go home.” Amy said, “I came here to fall in love and have alliances.”

After landing in Chile, teams went paragliding. The road block question was tricky. It asked who was good at following the leader. People that said they would do it, thought they would be dropping off the cliff. Nope! It was the other team member that had to paraglide while the roadblock person had to go chase them down on a beach when they landed.

It was uneventful besides one of the baseball wives, Kim, freaking out a bit. She did it though. Also, it was funny when the Afghan guys tried to help the blondes by ordering two cabs when there were three teams looking for one. When they came, the Exes grabbed one. They didn’t know they were called specifically and just grabbed the first cab they saw. The blondes grabbed the other one and the Afghan dorks had to call another cab.

We also had the chance to like the NFL guys even more. When one of them was coming down from paragliding, he talked about how easy it was to spot him in the sky since he looked like a tank with “ginormous shoes.” The other guy said, “I am comfortable with my width.”

It appeared that all the paragliding was done and we were done watching it when the other plane landed with the rest of the teams. We had already forgot they existed! This is the problem with the two planes being so far apart from one another. The snow plow team even commented that they knew one of them would be eliminated. That takes some of the suspense out of the show, I think. Hillbillies were thinking that too when one of them looked to be on the verge of tears. Keep it together! They mentioned later on that they came on the show to get money for their family. Amy said, “Really? This is how you think you should get money for your family? Not going to school? Taking a second job? Cooking meth?”

sealion

The next task was another roadblock. Teams had to row a boat in a harbor and get five fish from one of three fishing boats that had a limited number of fish. One of the boat names was 420 San Francisco, which seems appropriate. It also had the added restriction that the person that did the paragliding was the one that had to perform this task. I know the last one it considered the person that followed them down to the beach as the one that did the roadblock so they were making the other one do this one, but since we got to see the people paragliding and then got to see the same person do the rowing, we really only got to see half the teams in this episode. It was just odd.

rowing

The ER doctors were the first ones at the roadblock. The guy wasn’t rowing at all. I know rowing is difficult, but he only was using one oar, which does not make it easier. As Amy said, “I don’t think it works with just one oar near the water.” Later on, he complained about his arms burning. I said that they wouldn’t be burning as much if he learned how to row correctly. When the Afghan dorks showed up, they taunted the sea lions on the docks and one of them lunged at them. I encouraged the sea lion to eat him. Then he got into the boat and failed at sitting. The NFL guys were hilarious since they almost tipped over the boat with their hugeness. One of them told the other one to “settle down” when he tried to jump into the boat and almost capsized.

A few teams tripped up over the instructions in the roadblock about who was supposed to do it. A few started out with one person before they realized it had to be the other person. It slowed some people down, but didn’t affect anyone enough to cause someone to move ahead of anyone else.

At the pit stop, Phil did get to remind one team the number one rule of the game: READ THE CLUE. It was the ER doctors. They are smart! They weren’t bickering with one another or any other teams. They were in first place. You would think they would make sure they read the clue if they had watched any previous seasons. The clue after the last road block said to walk to the pit stop. They took a cab. They incurred a 30-minute penalty. I think they should have had to go back and walk, but instead they waited as they watched the bickering Exes show up in second place before their 30 minutes ran out and they lost their Express Pass opportunity by being the first team to check in at the pit stop. A word of warning about the ER doctors from Amy: “Don’t go to their ER. They will kill you.”

One good point that Amy made by the Exes getting the Express Pass was when she said, “If any team would repeat the Express Pass debacle, it’s this team. Why are they even friends? When I don’t like someone, I do not hang out with them.”

At the end of the race, it was between the hillbillies and the father/daughter team. We were all amazed that the hillbillies were ahead of anyone since they didn’t seem like a strong team, but the father/daughter team showed up at the second roadblock well after everyone else. They were also a team that was messed up by the second roadblock clue and how the father had to do the rowing so the daughter started out doing it, but even if the father started, they still would have finished that task in last place. They did experience the sad part of the race where they were doing the task in the dark. You know they are going to be eliminated when you see that sadness and they were.

What did you think about the two roadblocks that really had the same person doing two different tasks? Did you wish another team went home first? Did you think the right team came in first place? Who do you think they will give the other Express Pass to?

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